TUH'.E XVI 1 1. BAR I X I . 



aa. Scales large, broad, moderately dense; thorax with a narrow, cari- 

 nate median line; basal denuded spots of thorax not distinct. 



572. INSOLITA. 



571 (8884). TRICHOBARIS TRINOTATA Say, 1831, 17; ibid. I, 280. 



Narrowly oblong, robust. 



Fig. 96. a, Beetle; 

 side; c, pupa; d, potato 

 to show 



Black, densely clothed with short, linear 

 white prostrate scale-like hairs, those of 

 the disc of thorax pointing toward the 

 median line; those on its flanks oval, 

 much broader; base of thorax each side 

 with a round black spot; scutellum black. 

 Beak coarsely and densely punctate, 

 scaly on basal half, glabrous and almost 

 smooth near apex; stouter, not quite as 

 long as thorax in male; slender and much 

 longer, female. Thorax scarcely wider 

 than long, coarsely and densely punc- 

 tate. Elytral striae very fine, intervals 

 each with about three rows of the scale- 

 like hairs. Length 3 4 mm. (Fig. 96.) 



Frequent in southern Indiana, 

 >\tL a ik Va op f ened much less so in the northern 

 ^fr & c counties, May 14 June 7. Locally 

 common throughout New Jer- 

 sey, sometimes injurious. Ranges from New York, Canada, Mich- 

 igan and Colorado, south to Florida. "The larva is the 'potato 

 stalk-borer, which eats out the stalk and prevents the crop ma- 

 turing. The beetles remain in the stalks all winter, and if the 

 latter are raked up and burned when the crop is harvested the 

 beetles are destroyed. The native food is the nettle." ( Smith. } 

 Chittenden (1902-a), in a full account of the beetle and its life 

 habits, records it as boring j n the stems of a number of other 

 members of the potato family (Solanacca-} some of which, as the 

 jimson-weed, horse-nettle and ground cherry, are noxious weeds; 

 also in those of the cocklebur, Xnntli'unn caiutdcnsc Mill. He 

 credits it as being one of the most important insects enemies of 

 early potatoes in the Central-Western states, calling it the "po- 

 tato stalk weevil," and also recommends the burning of infested 

 stalks of potatoes and all other Solanaceous weeds in the vicinity. 



572 (11,152). TRICHOBARIS INSOLITA Casey, 1892, 565. 



Oblong-oval. Black, densely clothed with large, broad, recumbent, 

 whitish scales; median parts of third and fourth ventral segments ab- 

 ruptly glabrous. Thorax short, one-half wider than long, its punctures 

 large, deep, circular. Length 4.2 mm. 



